For those without the resources to easily purchase the Sennheiser ME3, this ME3 look-alike, distributed by Radio Shack, is almost as good and for a lot less money. It comes very close to the ME3 in terms of accuracy and noise canceling and is, in our opinion, a significantly better microphone than the Andrea and VXI microphones costing a fair amount more.

This microphone has a few features that make it a bit more convenient than the ME3:

It is wired for use with a PC, so it is not necessary to use this with a sound adapter (you might still consider using a sound adapter if you have any question about the quality and shielding of your computer's sound card).

It is manufactured with a standard 3.5 mm (1/8 inch) audio plug, so you needn't worry about modifying the plug or the need for an adapter.

It comes with an extended length cord with a remote on/off switch, although for most users of this microphone this will not be necessary.

In what ways is this different from the Sennheiser ME3? Although the housing (headband) appears to be identical to the one used by Sennheiser, the boom is slightly longer. It does, in fact, use a different microphone element. The results, though, are amazingly similar to that obtained with the Sennheiser ME3.

Comment: This is a uniquely good microphone for the money. Outwardly it looks a lot like the Sennheiser ME3, but the boom is a bit longer, and it performance is a small notch down from the ME3, but again, for the money, it's a great deal. Although we have not independently confirmed it, we are told that Radio Shack has changed their source for this microphone and the current version being sold from their website (and perhaps stores) has a different microphone element which is not particularly useful with speech recognition software. Be assured that the model we sell is the original, high quality version.We consider this microphone superior in quality and noise cancellation than the higher priced Andrea and VXI microphones.

One additional note about this microphone. It is not necessary to use the long extension cord that comes with the microphone. The cord directly attached to the headset is about 4 ft long. We bundle this microphone with a 6 ft. Radio Shack microphone extension which give you a total of 10 ft of length.